With its five terminals, endless flurry of travellers and busy skies, many people assume that London’s Heathrow hub is the most visited airport on the planet.

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Crowded skies: The new figures show that 5.4 billion people travelled by air in 2013

But according to new figures released today, the UK capital’s biggest air terminus is only third on the global list of the world’s busiest airports.

The statistics, which use passenger numbers as the key gauge of an airport’s importance, show that Heathrow had 72 million passengers in 2013 – a rise of 3.3 per cent on 2012.

But this was easily eclipsed by Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the southern US city of Atlanta – which retained its position as the planet’s busiest air hub.

A crucial connection airport for
travellers within the United States – or for visitors from Europe
continuing further west into the USA, or on into Central and South
America – Hartsfield-Jackson played host to 94 million passengers in
2013.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta held on to its position as the world's busiest airport

However, this was a slight decrease – of 1.1 per cent – on the airport’s performance in 2012, according to the figures released by the Airports Council International (ACI).

This allowed a fast-growing rival to close the gap towards the top of the list.

Beijing Capital International Airport saw 84 million passengers pass through its doors and terminals in 2012 – an increase of 2.2 per cent on numbers for the previous year.

Positions three to six in the list remained unchanged.

Heathrow
held its ground, followed closely by Tokyo International Airport,
Chicago O’Hare International and Los Angeles International.

Incoming: Heathrow is the busiest airport in Europe, but only the third busiest on the planet

You have to go down to seventh place in the table to find a change to the positions for 2012, with Dubai continuing its surge by leaping up from tenth.

The world's busiest airports in 2013

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (USA)

2. Bejing Capital International (China)

3. London Heathrow (United Kingdom)

4. Tokyo International (Japan)

5. Chicago O'Hare International (USA)

6. Los Angeles International (USA)

7. Dubai International (United Arab Emirates)

8. Paris Charles De Gaulle (France)

9. Dallas/Fort Worth International (USA)

10. Soekarno-Hatta International, Jakarta (Indonesia)

Figures based on passenger numbers in 2013

Now the main air hub for the Middle East, Dubai International witnessed the arrival or transit of 66.4 million passengers in 2013. This was by far the biggest increase on growth in traffic on 2012 among the top ten busiest airports – a surge of 15 per cent.

Dubai’s expansion in significance is set to continue to in the next few years.

‘With double-digit growth rates in passenger traffic for 2013, Dubai is likely to move up several spots again in the 2014 rankings, solidifying its status as the major hub connecting the east and west,’ says Rafael Echevame of the ACI.

‘Aviation’s nucleus appears to be moving eastward.

‘Other emerging markets such as Turkey, China and South-East Asia that have a critical mass of traffic remain major contributors to the upward surge in air transport demand.

‘This trend will continue into 2014.’

The top ten is rounded out by Paris’s Charles De Gaulle air hub, Texas terminus Dallas-Fort Worth, and Indonesia’s main airport Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta.

Atlanta also emerged at the top of the tree on the number of airplane movements in 2013.

Brave new worlds: Both Beijing (left) and Dubai (right) airports enjoyed a boom in passenger numbers in 2013

These figures demonstrate that, when it comes to planes rather than passengers, the United States is still the main player in the aviation industry.

Of the rest of the top ten, only two airports (in Beijing and Paris) were not on American soil – with the key air hubs in Los Angeles, Denver (in Colorado), Charlotte (in North Carolina), Las Vegas and Houston (in Texas) completing the list.

Overall, air passenger traffic grew last year.

The world’s airports served a total of 5.4 billion passengers in 12 months – an increase of 4 per cent on the figures for 2012.

The statistics are compiled on reports from over a thousand (1,105) airports worldwide.